I'm trying to re-open an old Hotmail account. I stopped

Customer Question

Hi. I'm trying to re-open an old Hotmail account. I stopped using it 2-3 years ago because it got badly hacked. Now I need to re-open it to find some emails that were exchanged. I need this for a court case. But I can't remember the old password. Any ideas? Thanks.

Hi Peddy, welcome and thank you for your question. My name is ***** ***** I am glad to assist you today.

I am very sorry about your issues. In order for me to give you the exact answer for your question and scenario, please tell me the following:

Were you using a web browser like Safari to access your old and hacked Hotmail account before? Or were you using an email program like MS Outlook 2010 or the Mac Mail app, the one with the postage stamp icon on the dock?

Approximately when was the last time that you were able to access this Hotmail account?

Please let me know by replying to me here so that I can help you further.

Hi Jess.Yes, I would have used Safari as it's my default browser.I'm afraid I can't give an exact estimate of when I stopped using it. There would be a way to find out, because I opened this new account -***@******.*** - at the same time that I stopped using the old one -***@******.***. But I can't figure put a way to establish when the new account was opened. Any idea how to do that?

Thank you for writing back with that information. Unfortunately, if the account is not ACTIVE for 2 to 3 years, the account will be automatically deactivated by Hotmail. By deactivated, it means all your emails and contacts there are deleted along with the email address.

By policy, if an account is not active by more than 6 months, it will be deactivated and all emails and contacts are removed automatically by Hotmail.

I know that this is bad news and not the answer that you want to hear and I hate to be the bearer of such bad news. But it will be unfair to you and unprofessional of me if I do not tell you the real score of the matter. But I hope at least it will not give you false hopes and save you some time.

At this point you placed a deposit and I only get credit for answering your question once you rate me positively (3-5 stars/faces). It is up to you if you want to pay me for bearing the bad news to you. But please do not rate me negatively. You can leave my answer unrated and you can request for a refund.

Hi Jess.Thanks for your reply - and your honesty. I have to be equally honest with you and let you know I will try and get a refund on my deposit, so I will leave you unrated. However, I would be happy to recommend you if it doesn't affect my ability to get the refund. Could you let me know about that please? Thanks again.

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